HaMoked Annual Activity Report for 2018

2018 was a challenging year for human rights organizations combating the Israeli government's occupation policies. Government and military policies continued to violate ' human rights in a systematic fashion. Meanwhile, those like HaMoked advocating against these policies were subjected to measures by the government, the Knesset and ultra-nationalist organizations to undermine our work.

In this difficult context, HaMoked provided individual assistance to 6,170 Palestinians. This included tracing Palestinians in detention and ensuring family visits; advocating for residency rights in Jerusalem; obtaining permits necessary to access farmlands beyond the Separation Wall; enabling travel between the and the , and travel abroad; and contesting punitive home demolitions and punitive residency revocations.

In addition to the individual assistance, we advocated for systemic change through research and public interest litigation to benefit large numbers of Palestinians:

 A four-plus-year legal battle resulted in a precedent-setting judgement of the National Labor Court that hundreds of Palestinian children in Jerusalem, who had previously been denied health insurance, must be given access to health services.  In April, HaMoked released a new report on the routine abuse by the Israeli security forces arresting and interrogating Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank. This report informs our advocacy to end night-time arrests, ensure minors receive legal counsel prior to interrogations, and promote accountability for violence.  In May, in response to HaMoked's petition challenging the classification of Palestinians living in and as "foreign workers", the State announced that employers of people in this group no longer have to pay a foreign worker levy (amounting to 20% of the employee's income). This decision puts jobs and livelihoods within the reach of some 10,000 Palestinians for the first time.  In a precedent-setting decision against a new form of collective punishment, the Appeals Tribunal invalidated the Ministry of Interior's decision to deport from Jerusalem the mother of a teenager who was accused of stabbing a Border Police officer in 2015. Ruling on HaMoked’s petition, the Court stated that the Ministry of Interior has no authority to

deport people living lawfully in East Jerusalem simply to punish them for someone else's actions, and described the decision as wrongful collective punishment.  We continue to challenge the highly discriminatory Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which denies family unification to Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens and residents. Among our efforts to repeal or amend the law, HaMoked submitted a principled letter to the Minister of Interior, demanding that he set an age above which older Palestinians would be accorded formal residency status.  In November and December, HaMoked submitted a series of individual petitions to the High Court of Justice to challenge the complete freeze on family unification for Palestinian residents of the West Bank and their foreign spouses. This freeze has left thousands with no legal status in their own homes, forcing them to live in constant uncertainty regarding their future.  Through a Freedom of Information petition, HaMoked obtained and publicized figures showing a dramatic rise in restrictions on access to "the seam zone" – the West Bank lands trapped between the separation wall and Israel. HaMoked is challenging new restrictions on access such as the claim that plots of land under a certain size don't require agricultural cultivation.

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2018 Statistical Breakdown of Casework

4,964 Tracing Locating detainees and notifying families Habeas 4 Corpus petitions Paralegal 398 Prisoners' rights assistance 60 Litigation Paralegal 180 Travel abroad assistance 64 Litigation Paralegal 253 Access to the "Seam Zone" assistance 16 Litigation Paralegal 189 Entry and Exit from Gaza assistance 8 Litigation Paralegal 394 Jerusalem residency and social assistance rights 139 Litigation

Paralegal 21 assistance Punitive home demolitions 7 Litigation

Paralegal 36 assistance West Bank family unification 11 Litigation

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